Romans 6:2b “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
I was talking with someone recently about victory over sin.
It can feel like such an unconquerable foe. We are promised that sin no more has dominion over us. (Romans 6:14) And yet, it so clearly does. Right? We fight and resist and we still lose. We give in. The flesh wins and the spirit loses. Over and over again.
Is that just the story of our lives? Are we doomed to the Sisyphean task of resisting sin, only to fall back into that same sin?
Simply put, no. Absolutely not. Our problem is that we wage a spiritual warfare with a fleshly strategy. The flesh vies to resist and conquer and overcome. Just look at human history. Empires rise and fall on our need for conquest. Paul appeals to it with war imagery throughout his letters. (Ephesians 6) So does James. (James 4:7) It isn’t inherently a bad desire—after all, mankind was given dominion over the earth. And self-control is praised in Proverbs, listed as a fruit of the Spirit, and named as a mark of Christian growth. (Proverbs 16:32, Galatians 5:23, 2 Peter 1:6) So, shouldn’t we conquer self?
Of course! It isn’t the what—it’s the how that throws us off. Remember, we are in an upside-down Kingdom (or more accurately, this fallen earth is what is upside down and the Kingdom of Heaven is what is right side up!).1 In God’s Kingdom, victory is achieved through surrender. We are very small. We are lower than the angels. (Psalm 8:5) We are easily snuffed out. We are dust. (Psalm 103:14) We cannot stand against spiritual powers. We must surrender to them, no matter how hard we fight first. I have never yet met a person who has conquered a devil in his own might. This truth is obvious. The only question that remains then is to which powers we will surrender.
If we surrender to Christ, His victory conquers our sin. If we surrender to sin, well, we sin. Our struggle is not to take up arms so much as it is to lay down rebellion. Rather than trying to hold a staring contest with sin, turn your back on it altogether. Turn to Christ and gaze on Him. The temptation will fade into the fuzzy background in the crisp light of His glory.
Have you heard of the phalanx? It was a marvelous military tactic. Soldiers would lock shields, creating an impenetrable wall on every side—even from above. To be protected, each soldier had to surrender his will. He had to choose to lock step with the men on either side. His shield was no longer his. It’s use really belonged to all. And as each man surrendered to his ally, they together won the victory over the enemy.
This is an imperfect analogy of our walk with Christ. We surrender to the goodness of Christ. In the moment of temptation, rather than white-knuckling it through, we fall to our faces at His feet. Our will becomes secondary to His. We are transported from the dark and bloody battlefield of sin to the throne room of God. We do not slay the evil; He has already won that victory. We simply surrender to the victory already one. A, for lack of a better term, mystic transaction that lies beyond our abilities to describe or catalog. A spiritual transference occurs. Read 1 Corinthians 15:57, Romans 8 (noting verse 37), and James 4:7 (in submitting to God, we resist the devil) for a small sampling of this principle throughout Scripture. Salvation, even from sin, is of the Lord. Not of us.
Our victory cry is, “I give up, Lord!” Our triumph banner is a white flag—waved toward Heaven, with our backs toward Hell.
Remember, this is a different Kingdom than we are used to. Comfort through mourning. Life through death. Increase through generosity. Strength through weakness. And victory through surrender.
I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.2
1 I am aware there is a movement built around that term. I haven’t read the book or followed the movement. I can neither support nor distance from it, because I’m not really aware of what it is and sadly lack the time to deep dive on it. The term itself is so apt that I will continue to use it. This is not meant to offend. It is simply a great description.
2 https://hymnary.org/text/all_to_jesus_i_surrender
